This invention relates to the lifting and transporting of immobile patients between a bed and a chair or the like, and more particularly to a sling utilized with a patient lifting crane, the sling having means for securing the patient in the sling to preclude the patient from accidentally falling from the sling while being transported.
In hospitals or the like it is common to utilize a crane type lifting device to raise immobile patients from the supine to the sitting position so as to transfer such patients between a bed and a chair or the like. Immobile and obese patients for whom normal transfer poses the potential for injury to the patient, nurse or other staff member require such lifting devices which conventionally are hydraulically operated. Although such lifts can be operated by one staff person, it is recommended that two be present to stabilize and support the patient. The patient is positioned in a flexible hammock type fabric sling having a central panel member and a transverse panel portion at each end, the sling thus having a substantially H-shaped configuration and the end of a suspension chain is connected to each end of each transverse panel and supported by a hanger carried by the lifting crane. One of the transverse panels supports the thigh the other supports the upper portion of the back of the patient.
One difficulty with the known patient lifting slings is that it provides inadequate support for the patient when being transferred as it provides insufficient support to the chest of the patient. This difficulty has been recognized and an attempt to provide a solution was made in Stasko U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,721. There, it was proposed to sew one end of a strap to the center of the leading edge of the sling which supports the thighs while the other end of the strap is looped about a hanger of the lifting crane. Although this proposal provides additional support to the patient from falling forwardly, it falls short in providing sufficiently safe support for the patient since the patient is not secured in the sling. The strap merely acts to engage the patient when he or she pivots forwardly, but effective support for the chest is not provided.